A Tumultuous Year, Seen Through North Korean Eyes

Some interesting comments and insight on both the hope and despair in north Korea.

V/R

Dave

A Tumultuous Year, Seen Through North Korean Eyes

by LOUISA LIM

http://www.npr.org/2012/12/10/166659124/a-tumultuous-year-seen-through-north-korean-eyes

Audio for this story from Morning Edition will be available at approx. 9:00 a.m. ET

December 10, 2012

North Korea is preparing to launch a long-range rocket as it rounds off a tumultuous year marked by the sudden death of leader Kim Jong Il last December, the ascension of his 20-something son, and the humiliating failure of a rocket launch in April.

NPR has recently interviewed five North Koreans in a northern Chinese city, gaining a rare glimpse of that eventful year through North Korean eyes. They were all visiting China legally, having left North Korea within the past few months.

We believed that in 2012 North Korea would become a strong country, where everyone would have enough to eat, and dogs would eat rice cakes. But life is harder now. I think there's no hope.

- Mrs. Kim, a North Korean citizen

Few North Koreans can forget the electrifying moment the stone-faced announcer on state-run television delivered a message they had never heard before: the first ever official admission of failure.

"The earth observation satellite failed to enter orbit," the announcer acknowledged bluntly, as she admitted April's long-range rocket launch had not succeeded.

For many North Koreans, even the very possibility of failure was shocking, stunning, literally unbelievable.

"For us, it was something we just couldn't believe," a retired North Korean soldier who gave his name as Mr. Ryu tells NPR. He even privately questioned whether the government might have been lying. "We wondered if it actually had been successful, but they were just saying that it hadn't been successful. We wondered how we could fail at something into which we had put so much effort."

In another example of this trend of acknowledging difficulties, North Korea on Monday admitted there was a "technical deficiency" in the first-stage control engine module of its rocket. It's now extending the launch window by another week, until Dec. 29. The official news agency said technicians were "pushing forward" with preparations, indicating a delay, rather than a cancellation."

(Continued at the link below)

http://www.npr.org/2012/12/10/166659124/a-tumultuous-year-seen-through-north-korean-eyes